A rather misleading desert

Accounting for around four-fifths of the country, the sandveld of the Kalahari Desert dominates Botswana.

The term ‘desert’ is misleading, because there is plenty of vegetation – thorn and scrub bushes, trees and grasses.  Even in the most arid parts of the southwest, where there are bare sand dunes, the landscape is more characteristic of dry steppe and the region is more accurately described as “thirstland”.

Various species of trees, such as Acacias and Terminalias, thrive across the sandveld and in the north there are areas of miombo woodland.

The great salt pans

The sandveld also contains a number of pans (shallow depressions) which fill up during the rainy season and provide an important source of water for wildlife.

The great salt pans of the Kalahari, such as the Makgadikgadi Pans, were once ancient lakes which dried up long ago to form vast areas of hard flat land.

A wildlife hotspot

The ancient lake of Okavango is now the vast wetland area of the Okavango Delta, containing around 95 percent of Botswana’s surface water.  Rich in wildlife, large parts of the delta are now protected within the Moremi Game Reserve.

One of the best ways to view the flora and fauna of the Delta’s wetlands is by sitting in a mokoro, a canoe which easily negotiates the swamps and narrow channels.  The most commonly sighted mammals are hippopotamus, but the delta is also home to many rare species such as the sitatunga, a splay-footed swamp antelope.

Beware of the crocs

With its undisturbed natural habitats, Botswana is home to over 550 species of birds.  The Okavango Delta is a particularly rich habitat, home to a wide array of jacanas, bee-eaters, snakebirds, storks, egrets, kingfishers, hornbills and herons.  Rare birds here include the slaty egret and wattled crane.

Many of these birds feed on fish, small amphibians and reptiles.  One of the main sounds of the Delta is the numerous frogs croaking throughout the reeds.  The swamps and lagoons are also home to larger and more dangerous reptiles, such as the Nile crocodile and the carnivorous leguaan or water monitor.